Abstract [en]

The transport grant (Transportbidrag) is designed to compensate companies in the Northern part of Sweden for the higher transport costs that are caused by a disadvantageous geographic location. A total of 44 municipalities in the counties of Västernorrland, Jämtland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten are eligible for the grant. In 2006 the Swedish Institute for Communication Analysis SIKA estimated how the transport costs, for inbound and outbound transports of high-value goods and metal products, differ for firms in the four counties in the upper North from the national average. The transport costs were computed from data for 2001. The results from SIKA’s study have been used as a basis for determining the "grant rates" to reduce firms’ additional costs for long distance transports. The purpose of VTI:s study 2014 is to estimate the corresponding transport cost based on more recent data, from 2006 and 2012. In both studies, calculations have been carried out using the official Swedish national freight transport model, Samgods. The calculations were carried out for the eligible commodity groups: Unprocessed material or semi-finished products of iron or metal, High-value products, Sawn and planed timber, Chemicals other than coal and tar, as well as the sum of these commodity groups. With the weighted approach the computed costs depends heavily on the flows (weights) between sending and receiving municipalities for the different commodities A general pattern is that the transport costs increase with the distance to the south or central Sweden, provided that the weighting is done with respect to Sweden. Estimated transport cost changes between 2006 and 2012 show relatively clear patterns when the weighted approach is used (with respect to domestic transports). According to the calculations the firms in the four Northern counties are estimated to have higher normalized costs in 2012 compared to 2006 when all the eligible commodities are included. This is true both for inbound and outbound transports. However, when considering individual eligible commodity groups, results become less unambiguous.